Kibrit Air Base

Kibrit Air Base ضوء القاعدة الجوية RAF Kabrit
IATA: none – ICAO: none
Summary
Airport type		Military
Owner		Egyptian Air Force
Operator		Closed
Location		Kabrit, Egypt
Elevation AMSL		1,560 ft / 475 m
Coordinates		30°14′45″N 032°29′24″E
Map
Location of Kibrit Air Base
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
14R/32L	2,684	8,805	Asphalt
14L/32R	2,684	8,805	Asphalt

Kibrit Air Base is a closed Egyptian Air Force (Arabic language: القوات الجوية المصرية‎, Al-Qūwāt al-Gawwīyä al-Miṣrīyä) base located in Egypt, approximately 20 miles north of Suez; 125 km east of Cairo. The name of the station came from a nearby village, and in Egyptian means "sulphur كبريت". Kabrit now is the name of a pilot station for Suez canal navigation on the same location.

History

During World War II the facility was known as RAF Station Kabrit, (Landing Ground 213) and was a major Royal Air Force facility which was used during the Western Desert Campaign. In 1941, it was where the Special Air Service (SAS) was formed. Beginning in 1943, United States Army Air Forces Ninth Air Force units arrived to supplement the RAF against the Germans in the Western Desert. After the war, Karbit remained a RAF station until the breakdown in relations between the British and Egyptian governments in 1956 when the decision was taken to pull out British forces from the Canal Zone.

The base was taken over by the Egyptian Air Force and renamed "Kibrit", becoming one of its main air bases. During the 1956 Suez Crisis, it was a base for the EAF 20 Squadron, equipped with twelve Soviet-built MiG-15 aircraft. During the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the base was attacked by the Israeli Air Force, and many of its Soviet-built MiG-17 aircraft were destroyed on the ramp by the IAF's Dassault Mystère IVs. In the 1973 Yom Kippur War with Israel, the airfield was captured by Israeli ground forces that crossed the Suez Canal along with Kasfreet and Shalufa Air Bases, however it was not used by the Israeli Air Force.

Kibrit was used by the Egyptian Air Force until the 1980s and the EAF units and personnel moved to the new USAF built Fayid Air Base Currently, the airfield is closed and not on the EAF's current order of battle as being an active base. Its main runways are having their asphalt removed and it is unclear what the future holds for the airfield.

Operational units and aircraft

Unit	Dates	Aircraft
No. 13 Squadron RAF	1943–1944	Martin Baltimore V and VI
	1946–1947	de Havilland Mosquito PR34
	1951–1955	Supermarine Spitfire PR11 then Gloster Meteor PR10
No. 14 Squadron RAF Detachment	1942	Bristol Blenheim IV
No. 32 Squadron RAF	1954–1955	de Havilland Venom FB1
No. 37 Squadron RAF	1946	Avro Lancaster B7
No. 39 Squadron RAF	1951–1955	de Havilland Mosquito NF36 then Gloster Meteor NF13
No. 40 Squadron RAF	1942	Vickers Wellington 1C
No. 55 Squadron RAF	1944	Martin Baltimore IV and V
No. 70 Squadron RAF	1946	Avro Lancaster B1(FE)
No. 73 Squadron RAF	1952	de Havilland Vampire FB9
No. 78 Squadron RAF	1947–1950	Douglas Dakota
No. 80 Squadron RAF	1943–1944	Supermarine Spitfire IX
No. 104 Squadron RAF	1942	Vickers Wellington II
No. 108 Squadron RAF	1941	Vickers Wellington IC
	1942	Consolidated Liberator II
No. 113 Squadron RAF	1941	Bristol Blenheim IV
No. 114 Squadron RAF	1947–1951	Douglas Dakota then Vickers Valetta C1
No. 148 Squadron RAF	1941–1942	Vickers Wellington IC & II
No. 162 Squadron RAF	1942	Vickers Wellington IC & II
No. 203 Squadron RAF	1941	Bristol Blenheim IV
No. 204 Squadron RAF	1947–1951	Douglas Dakota then Vickers Valetta C1
No. 208 Squadron RAF	1951	Gloster Meteor FR9
No. 215 Squadron RAF	1947–1948	Douglas Dakota
No. 216 Squadron RAF	1947–1951	Douglas Dakota then Vickers Valetta C1
No. 219 Squadron RAF	1951–1954	de Havilland Mosquito NF36 then Gloster Meteor NF13
No. 683 Squadron RAF	1951	Vickers Valleta C1
324th Fighter Group, 315th Squadron	July, 1943	P-40F or K Warhawk
57th Bombardment Wing HQs	July, 1943	(B-25C or D Mitchell, A-20 Havoc)

See also

• List of former Royal Air Force stations
• List of World War II North Africa Airfields

References

• Jefford, Wing Commander C.G., MBE,BA,RAF (Retd). RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 2001. ISBN 1-84037-141-2.

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

• Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556. http://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/Publications/fulltext/combat_sq_of_the_af_wwii.pdf. 
• Royal Air Force Airfield Creation for the Western Desert Campaign